The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1887-03-17

wAsHrxorox, D. o. March. u, lss7.

wAsHIsGroS. D. q. March. Il. 1857
EDITOR HERALD;
Notwithstauding the adjournmsut NJ Con.
srsss viii continue. for . Whit 1t isast. to
send you weekly washinstou letter. In
terest in national sfAip b perennial. and it
should be so with the american cifisen Of
both sexes and Of Sufficient intelllgsnce TO
know what IL going on at the head quarters
Of the great Nation, Of which the people In
such an intimate and responsible way are Q
part. can think OF no higher duty Of the
press than to educate Its readers and TO keen
IL alive to the fact that they are the consti.u-
ents not Of town, a country or . state mere
~. but OF q great Nation, essaying the sub
lime experiment of self-government, and
that in the government of the Unftsd
States 10 embarked richer and more prom.
Using freightage Of human hope and endeav.
or that has before been known In the history
OF our planet. We read with Interest the
pages OF Roman and Greclan history We
dwell with rapture on the dark romantic.
volumes Of the middle ages, and upon the
vivid narrative of the progress Of civilization
rs portrayed by the modern writer's OF
France and of England. - -
II the noblest study of mankind In man.
these cannot but be useful, but they are use.
full especially in that they afford us thu
means OF comparative study OF our time
and country. Never before or elsewhere has
the touch between the people ana the gov.
eminent beef SO close as IL Is In the Inited
States. More than ten thousand newspa pers
assisted by the telegraph and the latest
printing appliances keep the people in.
m an al rRou n,~I
at the Capital and the near and remote mn rts
Of the Union. No citizen who is not recreant
to the dearest trust ever voachsafed te man
can he INDIFFERENT to the manner and even
to the details Of the government.
He should study IL with the best light his
time and means AFFORD, realizing that he
cannot escape transmitting it impaired or
Improved to his prosperity. It is not In the
power Of Jay Gould 10 give to his children as
rich gift ~ intelligent, beneficsnt. en-.
franohised American citizenship can bestov
on the generations that are to come. The
man who confines his attention TO his own
affairs, no matter how pure and uprigh, M,
life, can be good man only in n narrow
| sense. II he fails TO contribute by his voice
and his vote to the publication and the In.
te:ligent administration Of public affairs be
hides like coward while criminals monop
ollie the polls, and send their kind to The
| state legislatures and to Washington.
1t has been common of late 10 speak of the
wickednessIof Washington. The city is nc
worse and no better than the people maks
1t. Youlmust remember that the citizens a
your Capital are helpless and are only In ,
limited sense responsible for their govern
ment. There are 25O.6oO people in the Dis
trict of Columbia. but they cannot vote, Tn,
President appoints three commissioner,
who are entrusted with the government IN
der laws enacted by Congress. Send hitbe,
better Congressman and We will have bette
laws. Send US better President and ",
will have better commissioners VINO will II
turn make better effort to suppress the hell
OF vice and degradation. Mr.. CteveisIad's I'm
tentions are good but his experience Is sadI,
limited. Many Of his appointments, wh,l
not positively bad, are weak, ignorant an,
Incompetent. This Is noticeably the case 4,
the Commissioner Of Patents who, hewsye,
~ about to redeem himself by resigninR.